The Worst

At the weekend, some chums and I were discussing what was the worst possible outcome of the Iraqi Constitutional referendum.

And we've got it.

Mapping the results, there were majorities against the Constitution across the whole centre and west of the country , even if in one case (Nineveh) the 66% hurdle wasn't crossed. Plus Diyala only just scraped through. Note the 22% in Bahgdad too.

The country is effectively split, a pro government Kurdish north and Shia south with a very big unsafe band in the middle. Don't expect any easy movement on cross country motorways or any pipelines or powerlines to open soon.

So, as I feared, a constitution which has almost no support in the Sunni areas is to be imposed. A rallying cry to extremist groups on both (or all three) sides. This one isn't over yet.

Meanwhile in other news;

2,000 US military deaths, almost 100 UK military deaths, and perhaps 30,000 Iraqi deaths (of which 11,000 were killed by US led forces according to Iraq Body Count).

Anybody got an exit strategy?